The immigration bill goes local

The strategy for passing immigration reform through the Senate isn’t just about striking a deal on border security.

It also means assuring Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) that fish processors in his home state will be protected, meeting a request from Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) that Nevada will be added to a border commission and guaranteeing Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) that resources won’t be diverted from the northern border.

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Immigration: New Boehner rule?

As border security dominates headlines a week before the final vote is expected, a quieter campaign is under way to address the targeted, sometimes parochial, interests of senators who are likely to support the bill but need to show that they fought for some immigration-related concession in return.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) fields the requests during private chats on the Senate floor and drop-ins to his office just outside the chamber. The asks may not be make or break for these senators — and the horse trading isn’t as intense as in past legislative fights — but attempting to meet the demands is still viewed as critical to Democratic leaders and members of the Gang of Eight who must piece together a filibuster-proof majority.

The challenge right now is the glacial pace of voting. The Senate has agreed to hold only a dozen votes in more than a week of debate on the Gang of Eight’s immigration overhaul. And bill proponents will need action to accelerate soon if they hope to have enough time to tackle the list of proposed changes that could lock in the support of moderate Democrats and a dozen Republicans that could put the bill over the finish line.

Even Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), who led talks on a bipartisan border security agreement, was lobbied by individual senators to insert a must-have amendment in any emerging deal.

“You have got a number of members from our caucus who are looking at this, and they’re saying there isn’t any one piece that gets us there but a number of pieces could get us there,” Hoeven said.

Some of the individual demands are well known by now.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wants to stiffen the restrictions on immigrant access to government benefits. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) says the language on requiring implementation of an electronic employment verification system needs to be tightened. And a number of Republicans are insisting on more specific metrics for determining whether the border is secured as a condition of their vote.

Hoeven and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) were near an agreement Wednesday with the Gang of Eight that addresses those concerns, either by rolling them into one package or securing guarantees from Senate leaders that key amendments will receive votes.

But a border agreement could also serve as the vehicle to deal with lower-profile requests from Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and others, Hoeven said.

Collins, a likely supporter of the overall bill, wants to remove a requirement that 90 percent of money available through a federal border security grant program known as Operation Stonegarden go to law enforcement agencies on the Southwest border. The change could free up funds for Maine.

McCaskill is pressing for tougher language in the bill to go after employers that repeatedly hire undocumented immigrants. It’s something she’s sought for years, and if it doesn’t make it into the Hoeven-Corker package, then she’s hoping the Senate will accept it by unanimous consent.